442 



's^mm MMERicffiif wmm j^jammmi^. 



would be. That the saliva from glauils 

 I. and II. doe.s thi.s there can be no 

 doubt. Honey is digested nectar, the 

 digesting ferment being this saliva. 

 While the drones and queen are fed in 

 part by- the workers, yet they take 

 honey ; and unless this is fully digested 

 b}' the workers, the drones and queen 

 must finish the work, and so must 

 have glands I. and II.] 



The most important purpose of 

 glands II., or their secretion is for the 

 test-oi'gaus which are in the groove at 

 the base of the ligula. 



[I do not understand this point] 

 Very likely the secretion from 

 glands I. may be used to wet and 

 smooth the newly formed cells. Thus 

 these secretions are true saliva, and 

 cannot be larval food. This is without 

 doubt true. Yet oi'ganized liquids do 

 often have a double use. The pan- 

 creatic juice in the higher animals 

 digest starch, fat, and may digest the 

 albuminoids — will in an alkaline liquid. 



Tbe LoTver Head-Glands. 



The ducts from the lower head- 

 glands open into the lower part of the 

 mouth, between the muscles of the 

 mouth. If the bee chews, this secre- 

 tion must surely empt}- and be mixed 

 with tlie chewed material. This, then, 

 is mixed with the pollen. This is cer- 

 tainly true ; for the pollen in the 

 honey-stomach shows some of its caps 

 open or elevated ; and as no gastric 

 juice is secreted in the honey-stomach, 

 this partial digestion is accomplished 

 by the saliva, and presumably that 

 from the lower head-glands. Further, 

 this saliva is used in kneading the wax 

 by the jaws. F. Huber (Neto Observa- 

 tions) says that the -fresh wax scales 

 and the chewed wax are chemicallj' 

 difl'erent ; and Ealenniayer and Von 

 Planta found in the wax scales 0.5977 

 per cent, nitrogen, while in the chewed 

 wax there was 0.95 per cent. This 

 must be due to this saliva. So we see 

 that these glands secrete -true saliva, 

 and so cannot l)e organs to secrete 

 bee-food. 



[I have replied to the last argument 

 before. The above positions are well 

 taken. Is it not quite likely that these 

 serve merely to mix with and partially 

 digest the pollen, and that Wolft''s 

 glands at the base of the mandibles 

 are the glands that moisten the wax ?] 

 The large size of these glands is no 

 argument favorable to the gland 

 theory, if we take it into consideration 

 that the saliva is very important in 

 digestion, and in part takes the place 

 of the gastric ferment of higher ani- 

 mals. Surely a large quantity of saliva 

 is added to the pollen food of bees, 

 and so this saliva is indirectly a part 

 of the chjle and larval food. 



[This is surely a powerful argument. 

 We secrete saliva almost entirely to 



moisten our food, and the daily quan- 

 tity is estimated at three pints. If this 

 saliva in bees is to moisten the pollen, 

 and the position of the duct adds pow- 

 erfull}- to the argument, then much 

 wouhl certainly be needed. The fact, 

 too, that drones and queens do not 

 have these glands, and do not prepare 

 their own nitrogenous food, is in 

 harmonj' with, and, in fact, lends sup- 

 port to this view.] 



We can find the same glands in 

 other insects which do not feed the 

 I'jrva at all, as Eristalis tenax, which 

 has these glands fully as large as those 

 of the bee ; and Nepa cinerea, which 

 has these glands, and the)- are ver\- 

 similar to those in the bee. 



[This is surely a very strong argu- 

 ment.] 



The product of these glands cannot 

 be spit into the cells, for bees never 

 spit. Nor is it at all likely that this 

 secretion is swallowed to be regurgi- 

 tated into the cell. Nature always 

 empties her products where they are 

 to be used ; so if there were milk-glands 

 they would either emptj' into the 

 honey-stomach, or else some appara- 

 tus would \vx\Q been developed that 

 this secretion might have been poured 

 directly into the cells. 



[I think these points are excellent] 

 These glands are in full function all 

 winter, when no brood is to be fed. 

 They must then have another purpose. 

 [How is this when bees have no 

 pollen for their winter food ? Of 

 course, they usually have the pollen.] 



If a colony passes the winter queen- 

 less, and no bmod be fed for five or 

 six months, and then receives a frame 

 of brood which has been kept out of 

 the hive until the larvse are in a starv- 

 ing condition, we observe that this 

 brood is fed at once. If this food is a 

 product of glands used only for such 

 purpose, this would be absolutel}' im- 

 possible after such long rest. 

 [This is certainly a good point] 

 If bees are fed honey mi.xed with 

 indigo, the larva; are no longer fed, 

 but commence to starve, while the 

 mature bees remain health}-. The in- 

 digo prevents contraction of the 

 stomach, and so regurgitation is im- 

 possible ; yet the food is digested and 

 absorbed. If the larval food were a 

 secretion it would still be supplied. 



[Granting these facts, the conclusion 

 must follow.] 



The following experiments of Schon- 

 feld prove that the larval food is chyle: 

 Bees were fed honey mixed with 

 carmine. In the larval food of this 

 colf)n)-, and also in the chyle of the 

 true stomach of the bees, were found 

 the chillinous points of the cochineal 

 insects from which the carmine is 

 made. The blood was- normal, because 

 the fine particles were not digested. 



and, of course, could not be absorbed. 

 As a secretion is derjved from the 

 blood, the secretion could not have 

 what the blood did not have. 



[This is also a crucial argument. 

 The facts granted, the coneulsion 

 must be.] 



Powdered iron was fed, with the 

 same results. 



■ Again, bacteria were fed to the bees 

 — at first Bdctcrium termo, and then 

 the bacillus <if foul brood — Bacillus 

 alveolaris. In 1)oth cases the organisms 

 were found in the larval food, but not 

 in the blood f)f the nurse-bee. As these 

 were not in the blood, they could .not 

 exist in a secretion from the blood. 



[This is an interesting point, as it 

 explains fully why the fasting method, 

 or the changing of the bees to clean 

 hives, cures this dreaded malady.] 



Von Planta finds the food of the 

 young larva; as follows : 



Queens. Workers. Drones. 



Albuminous, 4R.r> "fuent. 50.l« ■«< cent. 39.9 1 "*< cent. 



nil ia.82>'cent. fi.14*<cent. 7.85 "S' cent. 



Sugar n.aut'cent. 27.65«'cent. 1.17 |i cent. 



We see that the food for the differ- 

 ent kinds of larva; varies greatly in 

 composition. If this is a secretion it 

 could not vary, as the glands could 

 not secrete arljitraril}- a richer or a 

 poorer substance. But if this is chj'le, 

 it is easy to understand its variability ; 

 it would necessarily result from a va- 

 riation in the food of the nurse-bees as 

 to honey, pollen, or water. The de- 

 fenders of the gland theory say that 

 the secretion may be mixed in the 

 honej-stomach with honej- or water — 

 pollen is out of the question, as we 

 have seen that it is not given undi- 

 gested to the larva;. The experiments 

 with colored lioney shows this to be 

 untrue. 



That chyme [Mr. S. uses this term 

 to denote partly digested food] is 

 added to the secretion of the gland is 

 out of the question, because chyme is 

 surely prepared in the true stomach, 

 and not in the honey-stomach. In the 

 chyme are the shells, or husks (cuti- 

 cula;) of the pollen, but no whole pol- 

 len grains. If we examine the stom- 

 achs of bees we shall never find such 

 empty pollen grains — husks — in the 

 honey-stomach, except in the ca-se of 

 quite young bees just recently emerged 

 from the cells. These bees are fed by 

 the older bees with chyme. In the 

 true stomach we can find these shells, 

 if we examine a bee at the proper stage 

 of digestion. 



As soon as the larva fills the bottom 

 of the cell — from the close of the 

 fourth day — the larva receives chyme, 

 or partially digested material, from 

 the true stomach, and this contains the 

 cuticula;. At first these are few, but 

 more and more are added, so that, 

 just before the cell is capped, they are 



